It’s established rather early that Tyrants Blood have no interest in slowing down. No, not slowing in the sense of their career or the show workload (these guys do hit the pavement hard). Or, when one’s significant other says “We need to slow down” when big ‘ole commitment talks start to happen. (For the record, that’s never happened to DR, but it would be hilarious if it did.) Rather, their third opus Into the Kingdom of Graves knows of only one speed, velocity, tempo: Fast. And sometimes fast isn’t always good, but the uncontrolled chaos in which these Vancouver dudes operates is quite over-the-top, and ultimately, enjoyable.
(Editor’s note: Shouldn’t they be “Tyrant’s Blood?” The tyrant is possessive here, eh?)
The clank and rim shots of the never-ending snare of drummer Matt Blood (please let that be his real name) is the defining element of the ten songs that make up this release. He’s given a heavy workload, having to set the pace for riffs that zoom past the quicker Morbid Angel moments, thus bringing to mind a similar-minded band, Angelcorpse, another outfit with the propensity to forget about anything related to mid-tempo or groove. In the case of TB, their outward and obtuse riff style runs parallel to Blood’s octopus drumming, so there’s ample amount of kamikaze action on tunes like “Disowned and Defiled” and “Drowning in an Ocean of Fire.”
Variety isn’t even an option here, but to be so unabashed about the whole “we play fast” thing is okay in DR’s book. Plus, there’s an ample amount of blazed-for-glory tunes that should fill whatever void that is present between the worlds of black and death metal. Tyrants Blood may only do one thing here, but they do it well. No worries about style points, either.